And then the men who tried to stop her.
You must have had the best seat in the house,’ K’vin told her,
grinning.
The girl shot a vindictive glance around the table. Yes, I did, didn’t
I? I saw it all! Even when the dragonet tried to eat someone.
Was that her father?” Suze, now, that’s enough of that,’ said her own
father, and the older boy beside her must have pinched her for she shot
straight up on the bench and glared at him.
Yes, it was her father,’ K’vin said.
Didn’t he know any better than to strike a dragon’s rider?” asked
Suze’s father, shocked by such behaviour.
I think he has perceived his error,’ K’vin said dryly and caught Suze’s
startled reaction. What has your son (and Charanth, as he always did,
supplied the boy’s name from his dragon’s mind so quickly that the pause
was almost unnoticeable), Thomas, decided on for a rider name?” Well, I
don’t think Thomas dared to hope,’ his mother replied, but her
expression expressed both her pride in his modesty and her delight in
his success.
He never liked being a Thomas,’ Suze said, irrepressible.
He’ll pick a new name,’ and she gave a snide sideways glance at her
parent.
And here he is, if I don’t miss my guess,’ K’vin said, gesturing
towards the lad making his way across the Cavern floor. K’vin had
lectured the candidates on their responsibilities to their drago nets so
he was familiar with many of them. This Thomas, or whatever, bore a
strong enough resemblance to both sister and brother to make him easily
identifiable. He hoped that a facial resemblance was all Thomas shared
with his sister. She was a spiteful one.
Well done, young man,’ K’vin said, holding out his hand.
And how shall we style you now?” S’mon, Weyrleader,’ the new bronze
rider said, still flushed with elation. He had a good firm handshake.
I considered T’om, but I never liked the nickname.
You said you’d . . . Suze got yet another kick under the table, for
she yipped this time and tears started in her eyes.
It’s easier to say,’ S’mon said. Tiabeth likes it.” Now he showed the
delightful confusion of pride and proprietariness so many brand-new
weyrlings exhibited while accustoming themselves to their new condition
and duties. As K’vin remembered so vividly, that took time.
And there was a T’mas in the first group at Benden.
He’s long dead,’ his father said, not altogether pleased with his son’s
choice. Thomas is a family name, he admitted to K’vin. I’m Thomas,
ninth of my line.
The boy looked at his father with that curious aloofness of independence
that came with being a newly paired dragon rider sort of you can’t tell
me what to do any more’ and this is my business, Dad, you wouldn’t
understand.
Tiabeth and S’mon,’ K’vin said, lifting the glass he’d been carrying
from table to table and drinking a toast to the partners. The others
made haste to repeat it. Eat, S’mon.
You’ll need every meal you get a chance to eat,’ he added and left the
boy to follow that very good advice.
At each subsequent table, he heard more speculation about the late
arrival of Debera. There had been embellishments: one had her father
bleeding to death. Another variation suggested that Debera had been the
reluctant one and her family had insisted that she try to Impress,
having been Searched. Young Suze had had the best seat in the Hatching
Ground after all, despite being so far from the centre that she hadn’t
had a good view of Impression, but a perfect one for what was happening
outside. So he edited the facts to keep the incident from getting out
of hand. Fortunately, the music the band was playing, and the lyrics,
provided a happy distraction. Most of the music was new. Clisser’s
musicians had done their job very well indeed.
K’vin avoided having his glass filled too often and used slices of the
roast wherry and beef to sop up what was required by the obligatory
toasting of the new riders.
He had almost completed his circuit when he saw the Telgar Holders and